5:15 Mogharāja’s Question

5:15 Mogharāja’s Question - translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Twice now, Sakyan,

I’ve asked you,

but you, One with Eyes,

haven’t answered me.

“When asked the third time,

the divine seer answers”:

So I have heard.

This world, the next world,

the Brahmā world with its devas:

I don’t know how they’re viewed

by the prestigious Gotama.

So to the one who has seen

to the far extreme,

I’ve come with a desire for a question:

One who regards the world in what way

isn’t seen by Death’s King?

The Buddha:

Always mindful, Mogharāja,1

regard the world as

empty,

having removed any view

in terms of self.

This way

one is above & beyond death.

One who regards the world

in this way

isn’t seen by Death’s King.

Twice now, Sakyan,

I’ve asked you,

but you, One with Eyes,

haven’t answered me.

“When asked the third time,

the divine seer answers”:

So I have heard.

This world, the next world,

the Brahmā world with its devas:

I don’t know how they’re viewed

by the prestigious Gotama.

So to the one who has seen

to the far extreme,

I’ve come with a desire for a question:

One who regards the world in what way

isn’t seen by Death’s King?

The Buddha:

Always mindful, Mogharāja,1

regard the world as

empty,

having removed any view

in terms of self.

This way

one is above & beyond death.

One who regards the world

in this way

isn’t seen by Death’s King.

The Buddha:

Always mindful, Mogharāja,1

regard the world as

empty,

having removed any view

in terms of self.

This way

one is above & beyond death.

One who regards the world

in this way

isn’t seen by Death’s King.

vv. 1116–1119

Notes

1. Cited by the Buddha at AN 1:149 (1:234) as foremost among the monks in wearing coarse robes.

Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/StNp/StNp5_15.html